GWENT Police were among the most unfit forces in England in Wales, new figures from the College of Policing revealed.

The figures show results of bleep tests part of new fitness testing, which will be made compulsory by September.

Gwent Police had a 5.5 per cent failure rate, making it the fourth worst out of the 39 forces involved.

Out of 649 police officers from Gwent Police – 613 passed. The male pass rate was higher than the female, with 13 per cent of female Gwent police officers failing the test, as opposed to 2.8 percent of male officers.

The new test was brought in after recommendations made by chief inspector of constabulary Tom Winsor. The Winsor recommendations stated all officers should take an annual “bleep” test. Officers are required to complete a 15-metre shuttle run in increasingly shorter periods, reaching level 5.4 – four shuttles at level 5.

Higher failure rates were seen in Suffolk, West Midlands and West Mercia/Warwickshire. Two forces – Humberside and Northumbria police – boasted a 100 per cent pass rate for both male and female officers.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: “The vast majority of Gwent Police officers (94.5%) who have undertaken this test have passed.

“There may be a number of reasons for why an officer fails, and those officers will be given words of advice and support around improving their fitness level. An individual training programme can also be offered to support this process.”

National Fitness working group lead, assistant chief constable Rob Price, was pleased with the overall pass rate of 97 per cent. He said: “The results to date are encouraging and show the vast majority of officers tested are fit.

“Police forces are sending their results to the College on a quarterly basis and an equality impact assessment is being carried out on those results.

“New guidance will be issued to forces later this year with a strong emphasis on providing supportive measures to help officers pass the test.”

Results from forces will be collated until the end of May when the impact assessment will take place.